the tyranny of beauty
So the problem with living someplace people go for vacation--and I mean real vacations, not tours to see the historical sites--is that it's nice out all the time. When you're on vacation that's what you're looking for; you'd even be unhappy if one of your precious days were spoiled by rain or ugly people. But while that's fine for four days or a week or whatever, it's less wonderful to those of us who are stuck here for a longer time-span. All those gray damp days in Massachusetts? Give you time to relax and unwind!
What I mean to say is, beauty, in weather and surroundings, demands to be enjoyed. If you're not enjoying it, you're wasting it and wasting your opportunities! 79 degree weather with a nice breeze off the ocean? How come you're not at the beach?! Driving up PCH with the sun setting orange over the ocean (and/or mountains, depending upon the curves of the road)? You can't just drive along on your ordinary way, you have to be actively soaking up that beauty! Oohing and ahing is practially required.
And it's hard to keep up for extended periods of time. You feel bad for not spending the nice days outdoors, or else (and this describes the long-time LA hands) you expect everything to be beautiful all the time and ignore it most of the time. Now that's not a proper attitude towards beauty, is it? Our New England forefathers teach us the beauty has to be suffered for! Doled out in measured doses and appreciated ('are you appreciating? I don't see you appreciating!) to the last drop. Otherwise how do we ever deserve it?! I'm enjoying it as much as I can, me, but it will be a relief to get back to the land of the puritans, where folks think more like I do.
Which is to say, today was a nice day.